Pep rallies were something I considered myself a little bit of an expert on — at least until Monday.

In high school, I was a varsity cheerleader for three years. I consider my school to be pretty high in the school spirit department, so we had our fair share of pep rallies. During any one of the rallies, you could find me at center court because in Bell County, the cheerleaders were pretty much in charge of the spirit fests.

It’s not often that I respond to a column that appears in another publication, especially a local paper similar to The Anderson News.

After 24 years in the business, I know it can be difficult to put together a factual, yet interesting story. In sports writing, when you are often crossing county lines for game stories, it can be doubly tough.

The Lady Panthers may have been out-scored and out-sized in the 8th Region tournament, but the girls and their Carroll County fans outclassed Anderson County, hands down.

High school sports should bring out the best in competition and good sportsmanship; occasionally it does just the opposite. That was the case Monday night when CCHS played Anderson County at South Oldham High School.

A group of about a dozen Anderson County roughnecks sitting on the Carroll County side of the gym harangued and harassed the Lady Panthers the entire game.

Remember Jeff Johns’ letter to the editor in last week’s paper? The one in which he challenged me to weigh in on the opinion of some of his relatives that President Obama is actually the devil incarnate?

To that challenge I harken back to a comment then-candidate Obama gave when a preacher of national renown asked him about his position on abortion. Like Obama said, that is “above my pay grade.”

Granted, no one on either side of this issue pretends to know a fraction of what it really takes to publicly educate a child, and we’re sure this concept certainly would not pass muster with state and federal education czars so deeply invested in the current system.

Instead, the following is more of a “throw it on the wall, see what sticks” sort of scenario, but one that drew raves from some, raspberries from others.

You have supplied everyone with some needed comments and views about local issues. But you haven’t expressed your opinion openly about our current president on the first page of the editorial section, sir.

[Some of my relatives] have expressed their view, in private, that Barack Obama is the devil incarnate. Mr. Carlson, could you please disabuse them of this quaint notion about our president — about this very bright and well-meaning man?

A lot has been said about Eastern Kentucky over the past month or so, and I’ve taken notice. How could I not?

Eastern Kentucky is home to me. More specifically, the mountains of Pineville are home to me.

Pineville has been in the news on several occasions at the state level, but most of the national focus has been on Harlan and Hazard and other towns in between. In a sense, that’s still home to me. My daddy still drives to Harlan every day for work, and I’ve played many a softball game in Hazard.

I love sunsets. Watching our sun spin out of our sight is a beautiful thing.

We don’t think about our earth spinning around at over 18 mph while it travels at over 1,000 mph around its axis, but we are doing just that. Amazing, isn’t it? Going that fast without even realizing it should remind us that time is passing quickly and planting time will be upon us before we know it.

You know those people who love their pets more than anything? The ones who treat Fido and Fluffy like their own flesh and blood? The ones who can relate everything in life back to the cutest thing little Spike did last weekend?

I used to make fun of those people, but now I’m one of them.

Josh and I have had our lovely Lily — a 50-pound, 7-month-old lab — since early November, and I can’t imagine our life without her.

In fact, I had a little taste of that life this past weekend, and I didn’t care for it.